Berlin Travel Guide

Hi friends! If you follow me on Instagram, then you probably know that I spent three weeks in Berlin training for my new job in January. Leading up to my trip, I told myself that I would take full advantage of living in Berlin for three weeks and see as much as I could while I was there – even though I was by myself most of the time.

I forced myself to step outside of my comfort zone and go explore solo. I am proud to report that I held true to my word and did some pretty amazing things while there! Below is my Berlin travel guide and sort of a sequential recap of my trip.

Sandemans walking tour 

My first weekend in Berlin, I went on a three hour walking tour through the tour company, Sandemans. Sandemans offers free walking tours in a bunch of cities in Europe – and they are amazing! The tour guides are extremely knowledgeable and truly excited to fill you in on the history of Berlin (or whatever city you may be taking the tour). At the end of the tour, you tip the tour guide an amount you are comfortable with – but the suggested tip is between 10 to 20 euro. We started at the Brandenburg Gate and visited multiple sites around the area, to include: the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Hitler’s original bunker, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin State Opera and Humboldt University.

At each place, we would pause and our tour guide would give us a quick history lesson. Each of these places are pretty large tourist attractions, but you don’t need much time there. I liked that they were all included in one tour and I was able to see everything in a matter of hours.

The tour ended in the plaza near the Berlin State Opera and Humboldt University. From here, you have to pop into the Hotel de Rome. This place is faaaanncy! Ok and totally overpriced, but a fun, swanky place to get a glass of wine at the bar and look out across the street to the plaza. Oh and fun fact – the cast of the Hunger Games stayed here when they came to Berlin for a movie premiere.

After my glass (or two) of wine at the Hotel de Rome, I wandered over to Gendarmenmarkt, located in Mitte (which is basically the city center). Mitte is the nicer part of the city and definitely more expensive than other areas. This neighborhood is loaded with shops and restaurants. Gendarmenmarkt is another plaza with two churches and amazing architecture. In the winter, they have a Christmas Market and ice skating rink. Unfortunately, I just missed the Christmas Market by a couple of days. When I walked by, they were almost done tearing it all down.

If you’re in this area, you should definitely pop into the Galeries Lafayette. This is an upscale department store with an amazing selection. Even if you just want to “window shop,” it’s interesting to see a European department store and their vast selection.

Mauerpark 

This was one of my favorite days! Mauerpark is a huge park in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin. On the weekends, they have a massive market. There are all types of vendors – food, drinks, crafts, jewelry, clothing, antiques, etc. I ended up walking around here for almost 3 hours. I also found so many cute gifts – and a couple of things for myself :). My favorite item from the market is my pendant necklace. A local man uses Euro coins and carves popular Berlin sites into the coin. I purchased a gold one with the Brandenburg Gate carved into a 20 cent Euro coin.

While you’re in the area near Mauerpark, you have to go to Cafe KRONE. It’s about 3 blocks away from the park on Oderberger Street. They have amazing coffees and honestly the best sandwiches ever! I got the turkey sandwich and my friend got the brie sandwich. Both were delicious and super affordable!!
**Oh and one thing to note about restaurants and cafes in Berlin – most places do not accept credit cards. So make sure you have cash on you!! Luckily, Cafe KRONE does accept credit cards, so I saved my cash for the market and used my card there.

Boxhagener Platz 

Boxhagener Platz is another market in the Friedrichshain neighborhood. This is the area I stayed in since it was close to my office. To be honest, it was not my favorite part of town, but there are some cute areas not far from here – like Boxhagener Platz. On the weekends, this plaza also hosts a market with food, drinks and local vendors. This one does not even compare to Mauerpark. It is much smaller and has way less vendors. I walked the whole thing in about 15 minutes. Although I did find a really cute vendor selling baby clothes and had to buy something for my twin nieces.

While in the area, you will find a bunch of restaurants and coffee shops surrounding the plaza. There is a brunch place, called Silo, that is supposed to be amazing! I did not have the chance to go, but I did walk by it and there was a line of about 10 people out the door. Another cute spot over there is a boutique called Victoria Met Albert. This place had me drooling the second I walked in. They have EVERYTHING! Literally. Home goods, women’s clothes, men’s clothes, kids’s clothes, gifts, decorative items, etc. And I love that they carry European brands. I hate buying things in a different country that I can find at home (except for H&M. The H&M’s in Europe are sooo much better than the U.S.).

Restaurants in Friedrichshain

Another place in the Friedrichshain neighborhood is New Day. This is a small Vietnamese restaurant with delicious food and unbeatable prices. I dined in here alone and had the baked spring rolls and the Ga Sa Ot, plus two glasses of wine for under 25 euro. The portions are very generous – I could not finish everything! One other really good Vietnamese restaurant I went to in Friedrichshain was Nyom! I actually think I liked Nyom more than New Day. The homemade bao buns were insane!

Now on to Mitte

Next up was a trip back to Mitte. But this time I was in a different part of Mitte. Mitte is actually quite large and spread out. My first trip here was in the more touristy part of town. My second trip was on the outskirts and I enjoyed it much more. I went to Zeit Fur Brot with a friend for lunch. We each had this amazing croissant sandwich with cream cheese, tomato and arugula. We also had to share one of their cinnamon rolls, which they are known for! Make sure you go here before 3 PM because they tend to sell out of their bakery items.

To end my trip

I spent my last weekend in Berlin with my best friend. She flew in for the weekend from Chicago! Since I finally had a friend to go out with, we decided to check out the club scene that Berlin is so well known for.

We went to Water Gate on Friday night, which is located on the water and near a bunch of other clubs. I wouldn’t say the music was really my jam, but if you’re into house music, then you would love it! The club scene is definitely an experience. It’s not something I would want to do every weekend, but it was cool to see while I was there.

We spent our Saturday shopping and wandering around the Mitte district. We stumbled upon this bar in a shopping mall, called The Berlin Bar. It is a gorgeous bar in the middle of the mall – and super Insta-worthy! We sat here and had a couple of Aperol Spritz, per usual, then made our way back over to the Gendarmenmarkt to explore.

After my friend left, I flew home a couple of days later. Overall, the trip was a blast and an experience I will never forget! Berlin is an amazing city, but it is totally different from most Eastern European cities. It has a very Western feel to it. I mean Berlin was a Communist city until 1991 and the wall divided the country until then too, so understandably, it’s very different from a lot of places.

Ok wow, this was a long post! If you’re still reading, thank you! I hope this was helpful for anyone looking to go to Berlin soon. I also have a Paris travel guide if you’re considering other European cities. To conclude, here is a photo of me with a large pizza – that I didn’t share at Standard Serious Pizza in Berlin.